Number swapping - the act of throwing away and deprovisioning "bad phone numbers" and provisioning new replacement phone numbers, to try and overcome lower contact rates - is, unfortunately, an all too common practice in today's outbound contact center...
We are not fans of this practice @ outboundANI...
At outboundANI, we are a non-swap model, preferring to intelligently manage ANI inventory to achieve the best contact rates based on results and data, with the underlying precept that there is no such thing as a bad phone number, only bad use of a phone number...for us, understanding WHY that number has been a problem, and correcting the behavior, is much more interesting than number swapping, which we see as an endless tail chase, analogous to a Keystone Cops episode...
Instead of seeing your phone numbers as throw-away disposable items, we view them as true organizational assets, that, when properly cared for and maintained, become just as valuable to an outbound caller as desks, chairs, or computers...
BUT, if you do insist on doing it, at the very least you should make sure you're doing it properly, and, more important, compliantly...
From a compliance best practices standpoint, swapping numbers used for outbound too frequently can and likely will cause called party frustration when they attempt to call you back to speak with an agent or to make a Do Not Call request. Call recipients who experience numbers no longer in service are far more likely to complain. In fact, regulators could consider this practice misleading or even deceptive. I recommend keeping numbers active that were used in outbound campaigns for at least 90 days after it was last used.
- Ken Sponsler, SVP Practice Manager - CompliancePoint
And there you have it:
Unreturnable calls are the worst thing you can do as an outbound caller
Swapping numbers can have collateral damage that can cause even worse performance for your center
Recommend to hold ANI's for at least 90 days after the last outbound dial was placed
All of this risk, for what amounts to only a short term gain, and that does absolutely nothing to fix the underlying problem...
So, yeah - stop number swapping...and if you do, make sure you understand the true compliance risks, side effects, and cost, of doing it properly... :-)